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Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee: Navy Nurse Corps Pioneer

Though their contributions to the Navy cannot be measured in ships sunk or enemies engaged, Higbee and her nurses were as essential to victory in war as any military element.

On 13 November 1944, for the first time in history, the U.S. Navy named a warship after a woman: Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, the second superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps (NNC) and first woman to receive the Navy Cross. The destroyer, the USS Higbee (DD-806), mirrored her namesake’s resilient, unwavering, and energetic nature, earning an unprecedented eight bronze battle stars in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. 1

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